


Master Ohnaka

by the_dragongirl



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Feels, Gen, Jedi!Hondo, Sort of not-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6456691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_dragongirl/pseuds/the_dragongirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Jedi Hondo Ohnaka loses, then finds himself again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Master Ohnaka

Imagine Jedi Knight Hondo Ohnaka.

Imagine a young Weequay Jedi who proves to have a real knack for infiltration and intelligence work, and starts taking assignments undercover pretty much the day he is Knighted. For one of his early missions, he builds up an entire persona as a pirate of considerable skill. Over the next few years, he actually manages to gain control of an entire pirate fleet, and therefore bring them all unknowingly into the service of the Jedi. When the first whispers of war reach the Council, he is sent undercover full time. The vast field of intelligence he is able to gather and send back to Coruscant by working both sides of the Republic/Separatist divide averts many would-be Separatist plots.

Imagine this Jedi having a great time “capturing” his friend and age-mate from the crèche, Obi-Wan Kenobi, all while keeping his real identity secret from his friend’s former Padawan (who is terrible at keeping secrets, really Obi-Wan, my old friend, can’t you teach him how lie even a little?) and from the Sith Lord he is trying to figure out how to get back to the Council. He will, of course, fail at that last part, but at least he manages to get two Jedi safely out without raising suspicions among his pirate crew.

Imagine another encounter with his friend Obi-Wan that is a lot less funny. Hondo is faced with a horrible decision. He feels Adi’s death, and Force, he’s terrified that he’s about to feel Obi-Wan’s too, but if he breaks cover now, this band of pirates WILL follow those kriffing Sith, and then they will BOTH die, and there will be no one left to get word back to the Council. He clenches his fists so tightly that his nails draw blood, but he keeps up the outward appearance of the uncaring pirate.

Imagine this Jedi getting wind of a Separatist plot to intercept a shipful of Initiates on the way home from Ilum, with only a Padawan to protect them. He has no time to get word back to the Council, and he can’t risk breaking cover, not now when the intelligence he is providing is so vital to the war effort. But he also can’t let another Jedi die because his cover doesn’t allow him to help. And so he hatches a supposed heist of his own, so he can bring his crew to the rescue with no one being any the wiser. Oh, he’ll take the kids’ lightsaber crystals alright, but he’ll be able to “sell” them back to the Council in no time, and better the kids be a little traumatized by the experience than that they fall into Separatist hands, where they’ll likely end up dead or worse. His carefully controlled plans are very nearly ruined by the ingenuity the Padawan aboard (Padawan Tano, he notes, is going to be one to watch when she gets nearer to her knighting), but he manages to get the children safely back to his old friend Obi-Wan in the end, so he’s going to count that as a win.

Imagine that, shortly thereafter, he receives a message from that same old friend that an absolute shit-show has gone down on Coruscant, and now that clever Padawan is alone and friendless in the Galaxy, with no support and no resources. And Jedi Knight Hondo Ohnaka may not be able to do much for her, but...well, maybe pirate Hondo Ohnaka can. If Ahsoka Tano is surprised to be offered a job by her sometime enemy, she doesn’t show it. She even takes it, for the first few months, proving herself every bit as competent under fire as he’d thought. He’s almost sorry when she finds her feet and resigns. It’s hard to remember if that feeling comes from the Jedi or the pirate.

Imagine that, after everything, Knight Ohnaka is waiting eagerly for the war to end and his recall orders to finally come through. He is so ready to come home and remember what it feels like to actually be a Jedi. Then Order 66 happens, and Sith Hells, he doesn’t know what’s happened exactly, but he feels the deaths of thousands of his brothers and sisters through the Force. He doesn’t know if Bant or Garen or Obi-Wan or ANY of his closest friends made it through. When the rumors start to trickle in, that the Order is gone, and the Jedi are declared traitors and criminals, he makes a decision. He hides his lightsaber deep in an old and battered rucksack, and he disappears into the persona of the pirate completely. Years of undercover work have taught him how to survive on his own, and he’ll be damned if he’ll lay down and die now, even if he is (as far as he knows) the only one left.

Imagine that, shortly thereafter, he finds out he’s NOT the only one left. When he’s on Kaller for a mission, he finds a painfully desperate looking Padawan rooting through dumpsters in a back alley. It’s probably not the smartest thing to do (this poor kid stands out as a Jedi to anyone who vaguely knows what to look for), but can’t bear the thought of leaving this unprepared CHILD to face the galaxy alone. Young Caleb never met Knight Ohnaka, so as far as he knows, Hondo is just a pirate with a soft spot for younglings. Which, really, is all to the better. If this kid is going to survive the way things are now, he needs to learn how not to be a Jedi. And so, Hondo spends the first year teaching the kid just that. He gives him a new name, a new set of skills, and a new set of rules to live by, the first of which is DON’T GET CAUGHT. And it seems like maybe, just maybe, things are going to remain stable, if not particularly pleasant. That is, until someone finally gets around to checking Temple records, and realizes that there was a Jedi Knight undercover at the time 66 was issued, and that said Jedi might have been missed in the purges.

Imagine pirate Hondo Ohnaka’s confusion the first time a clone comes looking for him instead of his adorable idiot of a ward (he refuses to think of Kanan as his Padawan. After all, Hondo is NOT a Jedi, as far as anyone still living knows, and he’d like to keep it that way. That means he needs to keep away from his old life, even in his own head). The look on Kanan’s face the first time one of the people hunting them tells “Knight Ohnaka” to surrender quietly would be hilarious, if there weren’t people shooting at them at the time. They manage to get rid of this round of pursuers, but Hondo isn’t going to wait to find out which of his motley crew sold them out. He grabs Kanan, the old rucksack where Hondo had hidden his lightsaber, and as many credits as he can quickly lay hands on. He shoves all three into his fastest ship, and runs for the outer rim.

Imagine pirate Ohnaka spending the next couple of years running small-time jobs with his not-apprentice. He ends up teaching the kid some of the Force techniques he would have learned as a senior Padawan, at the same time he teaches him how to run a successful con. The kids learns fast, and he learns well, which is a good thing when it’s just the two of them (Hondo knows better than the try to build up another crew. That way lies attention, which is exactly what they can’t afford). Hondo still insists that the kid is not his Padawan (even if Kanan does occasionally call him Master Ohnaka  when he’s particularly annoyed or frightened), but that doesn’t stop him from feeling a certain proprietary pride at how well the kid turns out. When Kanan is 20 and insists that it’s time for him to set out on his own, Hondo let him go with a small ship, a healthy supply of credits, and his blessing. He tries not feel the ache in his heart when this boy who is the closest thing he has left to a family walks away.

Imagine Hondo Ohnaka, not quite a pirate these days, but still definitely not a Jedi, finding himself adrift after that. He has jobs he can do and cons he can pull, but somehow, after years of having something in his life that actually gave it meaning, it just doesn’t seem all that worthwhile. And so, when he is approached by a nondescript young woman (from the inner core, by her accent) who addresses him as “Master Ohnaka”, he doesn’t immediately run for the nearest shuttleport. Instead, he stays, and listens. “You and my employer had a mutual friend, who spoke highly of your abilities in the creation of intelligence networks,” she says. “And that’s what we need now, if we ever hope to stand against the Empire.” And for the first time in seven years, Hondo thinks about the wider galaxy. He thinks about the people he used to protect, and how they must be suffering under the rule of a leader who would order a genocide because the Jedi were inconvenient to his plans. He feels the barest hint of that old sense of duty that used to be the center of his life. And he thinks about how little he has left to lose.

Imagine Hondo Ohnaka, who spends years finding and piecing together bits of intelligence that paint a picture of Imperial activity on much of the outer rim. The Rebellion calls him Weaver for the webs he spins, though only Bail Organa and the woman he sent as a go-between know his true identity. He finances his work through occasional jobs of piracy and conwork, both to keep plenty of credits on hand for bribery and to maintain his reputation in the underworld. He very purposefully doesn’t try to find out anything about the Rebel cells operating in his territory. He doesn’t try to seek out his former Padawan either (and yes, Hondo can admit now that that is what Kanan was to him, if only to himself: the Padawan he never asked for and never intended to take, but whom the Force saw fit to give him anyway.) It’s better, after all, if he doesn’t have any information to give up, in case he gets caught. For eight years, though, he avoids detection. Until, one day, he is working a con job, and encounters a kid who absolutely shines in the Force (and who reminds him far too much of another kid he used to know, all those years ago). A kid who clearly has had some training already, training which absolutely SCREAMS Jedi to someone who knows what to look for.

Imagine Hondo Ohnaka (who is feeling more like the Jedi he used to be now than he has in years) faced with a familiar dilemma. He really can’t afford to blow his cover now. The Rebellion needs the intelligence he provides, and if his former status is revealed, his network is going to fall apart. The Empire will pay handsomely for information on the location of a former Jedi, and the outer rim is full of sleemos who would sell their own grandmother for handful of credits. There’s no way he’s going to be able to keep that information a secret if he reveals himself now. But, Sith Hells, SOMEONE has to get this kid home to whoever it is that took him on as a Padawan. And so, Hondo pulls one of his more elaborate cons to ensure that the job doesn’t entirely go the hell, and the kid gets home to his Master, with no one the wiser. He almost blows the whole thing himself when he see who exactly the Master in question is (because, Force, he has MISSED Kanan), but there’s still enough of a training bond between them that Hondo’s mental entreaties for his former Padawan to play along are heard. His cover is intact, and he returns to his work.

Imagine Jedi Master Hondo Ohnaka, who is faced with that same decision one final time a few short months later, and finally, FINALLY chooses to leave behind the pirate persona forever. Because his network has reported to him that a Jedi was captured from Lothal, and taken to Mustafar. They say it’s a man, not a boy, and Hondo knows with a sinking heart that Kanan has at last broken that first rule Hondo ever taught him. Mustafar is, they say, uncrackable. Any Jedi who gets taken there is as good as gone. His contact in the Rebellion confirms for him, in a rare show of reciprocal information sharing, that there is to be no rescue attempt. As far as the Rebellion is concerned, the Jedi of Lothal is already dead.

Imagine Master Ohnaka digging his lightsaber out of that ragged rucksack for the first time in many years, and walking away from everything he has built. He finds Kanan’s Padawan on Lothal (Ezra, he finds out. The kid’s name is Ezra) just as Kanan’s cell is about to go rogue and stage that forbidden rescue. Hondo insists that he’s coming along, and silences their objections with the kind of casual display of Force ability that he hasn’t performed since he was a Padawan himself. He is a Jedi Master, and he will not be kept from battle when his own student’s life is at stake.

Imagine Jedi Master Hondo Ohnaka, who may not be much of a pirate these days, or much of a Jedi either for that matter, but who is going to see what’s left of his family live through this war. He failed once. He’s not going to let it happen again.


End file.
